Beyond the Stars
by Jedi Adia
Summary: After the events of Star Trek: Nemesis, the Enterprise returns to the Ba'Ku homeworld. **contains spoilers for Star Trek: Nemesis**


Beyond the Stars  
by Jedi Adia  
  
Disclaimer: Star Trek does not belong to me; it belongs to the venerable Gene Roddenberry. I just want to play with it for awhile.  
  
Dedication: To Gene Roddenberry, who is now beyond the stars. Star Trek is the best. Thanks, Gene! And to Brent Spiner, who brought to life my most favorite character in the Star Trek franchise. Data is the coolest!  
  
***  
  
//"I can't imagine what it's like to be a machine, " Artim said, as he and Data walked through the foothills with the others.  
  
"Perhaps it would surprise you to know that I have often imagined what it would be like to be a child."  
  
"Really?"  
  
"Really," Data said with a nod.  
  
"For one thing, your legs are shorter than everyone else's," Artim said.  
  
"But they are in a constant state of growth. Do you find it difficult to adapt?" Data asked. When Artim gave him a strange look, Data proceeded to explain. "A child's specifications are never the same from one moment to the next. It's a wonder you do not.trip over your own feet."  
  
"Sometimes I do."  
  
"My legs are eighty-seven-point-two centimeters. They were eighty-seven- point-two centimeters the day I was created. They will be eighty-seven- point-two centimeters the day I go off-line. My operation depends on specifications that do not change," Data continued. "I.cannot imagine. the experience of growing up or even tripping over my own feet."  
  
"But you've never had adults telling you what to do all the time.or bedtimes.or having to eat food you don't like."  
  
"I would gladly accept the requirement of a bedtime in exchange for knowing what it is like to be a child," Data said.  
  
Artim took a moment to consider this and then asked, "Do machines ever play?"  
  
"I play the violin.and my chess routines are quite advanced."  
  
"No, I mean.haven't you ever just played.for fun?" Artim asked.  
  
"Androids.do not have fun."  
  
"If you want to know what it's like to be a child, then you need to learn how to play," Artim said.//  
  
*  
  
A muffled crash, as the ship struggled to stay together, brought Data back to the present. He was on the Scimitar. And he knew what he had to do, as he saw Picard on the bridge, with Shinzon's impaled body sagging against him. He ran over to his captain and, throwing Shinzon's body aside, gave Picard the Emergency Transport Unit and beamed him away to safety. "Good- bye," Data said. He turned and fired at the deadly weapon the Scimitar harbored. The Scimitar exploded, taking Data with it.  
  
***  
  
TWO MONTHS LATER  
  
The Enterprise-E dropped out of warp in the Briar patch. "Helm, assume a standard parking orbit around the Ba'Ku homeworld," Picard ordered. He turned around to find Geordi and Worf standing behind him. "Are we ready for this?" Both men nodded, and Picard went to follow them. His first officer, Commander Madden, put a hand out to stop him.  
  
"Sir, I don't think it's wise to-"  
  
"Commander, I've been here before. We need to do this." Picard followed Worf and Geordi onto the turbolift that would take them to the transporter room and they beamed down to the planet's surface.  
  
The Ba'Ku village looked exactly as it did when they left it. It was a place where time stood still. Just as the people never aged, the town never aged either. Picard walked through the village until he reached Anij's house.  
  
"Jean-Luc!" She said when she answered the door.  
  
"Anij." She took his hand and led him inside. Geordi and Worf followed. They saw a lot of people in the living room, Artim among them.  
  
"Where are the others?" Anij asked.  
  
"Anij, maybe we should go outside," Picard said, gently. Anij's face fell at his tone, but she led him back out.  
  
They walked back through the village, its immortal beauty surrounding and penetrating them.  
  
"I'd almost forgotten how beautiful it is here," Picard said. "How are the Son'a adjusting?"  
  
"You never answered my question, Jean-Luc."  
  
"Mostly everyone's fine. But the senior staff is split now. Some of us have gone on to other things," Picard began. "Will Riker's been promoted. He married Deanna Troi and took command of the U.S.S. Titan. Dr. Crusher has gone to Starfleet Medical."  
  
"You seem so hesitant, Jean-Luc.what happened?"  
  
"It's Data. That's why I've brought you out here. We need to break it to Artim gently," Picard said. "Data.we lost him during a battle. Two months ago."  
  
They stopped walking and Anij turned away. "What happened?"  
  
"We were sent on a mission to Romulus. The Romulans had called for our aid, and when we went into battle, Data was killed," Picard explained. "That was the short version."  
  
For a moment, there was silence, stillness. Then Picard noticed that Anij's shoulders were shaking, as she struggled to control her emotions, but failed. "What will we tell Artim?"  
  
"The truth," Picard said. "He has to know, Anij. It's only fair."  
  
"It's never fair, Jean-Luc," Anij said, turning back to face him. "Death is a foreign concept on our world. I can tell him, yes. But can he really ever know? Can he really ever understand?"  
  
"Even people for whom death is guaranteed don't understand it," Picard said. "It's just a part of life for us. It affects everyone in the galaxy, even the people on this planet." He put his hand on her shoulder, as she looked somewhere behind him, to the road, down which Geordi and Worf were coming with Artim.  
  
"Jean-Luc," she said, with a nod of her head. He turned and watched the two remaining members of his original senior staff come toward them with the boy who wasn't aware of what was coming.  
  
"I knew you would come back. You said you would," Artim said. His eyes danced, but his voice gave away the fact that he knew something was amiss. He looked around, expectantly. "Where's everyone else?" he asked. Eyeing the hills in the distance, he asked, "Is Data hiding? Is he playing a game or something?"  
  
Anij could barely keep tears from coming to her eyes as Picard shook his head. "Artim, there's something you need to know," he began. He took a breath before he went on, not realizing how hard this would be. He really didn't know how to say it, so he just said it straight out. "Data.died, Artim. He was killed in a battle two months ago."  
  
A shadow seemed to fall over Artim, as he tried to come to terms with what he'd just been told. "But.I thought Data was a machine. Machines can't die.can they?"  
  
"Machine or no, Data was just as fragile as any other lifeform, Artim. He could be destroyed. He's not invincible," Picard said. He knelt down, so that he was at the boy's level.  
  
Artim moved closer to Anij, and she put her arm around his shoulders. Picard stayed where he was, while Worf and Geordi looked on. "Last time you were here, Data and I talked about what it was like to be a child. Data said that he would never know what it was like, because.he never grew up, and.he didn't know how to play. Can you believe that? He didn't know how to play," Artim said. "He said something about his legs always staying the same length until the day.he went off-line. I guess that day came, didn't it?" He began to back away from them all.  
  
"Artim-" Anij said, stepping forward.  
  
"No.just leave me alone," Artim said, as he turned around and ran off toward the hills.  
  
As Anij watched him run off, she said, "I told you he wouldn't believe it."  
  
"They don't at first," Picard said. "It's called denial."  
  
"Should we go after him?" Geordi asked.  
  
"Let him be for a while, Geordi. He needs time," Picard said. And then, barely enough so that no one else would really hear him, "I think we all do."  
  
***  
  
About an hour later, Picard, Geordi, Worf, and Anij, went looking for Artim. They found him sitting atop a pile of hay.  
  
"This is the last place I saw Data," Artim said.  
  
"It seems like yesterday, doesn't it, Artim?" Geordi said, climbing up next to him. "You know, Data also used to be my friend. He still is my friend and he always will be."  
  
Artim looked at Geordi. "Really?"  
  
"Really. Just because someone dies doesn't mean that they stop being your friend. You always remember them. That's important."  
  
As Geordi and Artim talked, Picard, Anij, and Worf slowly moved away from them.  
  
"Things have changed so much," Anij mused. "Will my people have the pleasure of meeting your new senior staff, Jean-Luc?"  
  
"It's still a little too new. Maybe someday," Picard said. "My new first officer was extremely hesitant about letting me coming down here. But it's as I told Will before he left for the Titan - when your first officer objects to you going down to the surface of a planet on an away mission, ignore him."  
  
Anij laughed at this. But her face soon sobered again. "Data would have been your first officer."  
  
"If we dwelt on the "would have beens", we would drive ourselves mad, Anij," Picard explained. "I try not to think about it anymore. During those first few days, I couldn't stop thinking about what would have happened had I done something differently. None of us could stop thinking about that. But we have to, Anij. We have to stop."  
  
"Data died with honor," Worf said.  
  
"Yes he did, Mr. Worf," Picard said, "yes he did."  
  
***  
  
A few hours later, Worf, Geordi, and Picard prepared to return to the Enterprise. Anij and Artim saw them off.  
  
"Always remember Data, Artim," Geordi said. "He'll always be your friend."  
  
"I will," Artim said.  
  
"I wish we had come with better news," Picard said. "We will be back, though. I promise."  
  
"I'll hold you to that, Jean-Luc," Anij said.  
  
"Picard to Enterprise. Three to beam up," Picard said.  
  
"This is not good-bye," Anij murmured.  
  
"No, it's not," Picard replied. "Energize." And, not taking their eyes off of those they were leaving behind, the three remaining original senior officers of the Enterprise-E beamed home. 


End file.
